Such is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich in relation to God.”
Parallel translations
- WEB So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
- KJV So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
- BSB This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”
- NKJV “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
- NLT “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
So it is with anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God. The parable warns against living for self while neglecting God.
Overview
Jesus draws the lesson plainly: a life devoted to accumulating earthly wealth while remaining spiritually bankrupt before God ends in loss. Being 'rich toward God' means treasuring Him, trusting Him, and using one's resources for His purposes. True and lasting riches are found in a right relationship with God through Christ, not in earthly possessions.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Matt 6:19–20“Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;
- Luke 12:33Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys.
- Jas 2:5Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?
- Jas 5:1–3Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
- 1 Tim 6:18–19that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
- Rev 2:9“I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
- Hab 2:9Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
- Hos 10:1Israel is a luxuriant vine that produces his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. As their land has prospered, they have adorned their sacred stones.
- Luke 6:24“But woe to you who are rich! For you have received your consolation.
- Rom 2:5But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;
- Luke 16:11If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
- 2 Cor 6:10as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 12:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.